One of the most critically acclaimed programs on air, the Peabody Award-winning drama series 'The Wire' continues to challenge viewers with a "cop show" unlike anything on television.

Season four of 'The Wire' centers on the lives of four young boys as they traverse adolescence in the drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The new episodes of the series examine their world through the theme of education, asking viewers to consider the world that awaits these boys, and to consider further the American commitment to equal opportunity.

"The American obsession with police procedural and crime drama usually only allows for villains - in large part, black and brown - who exist as foils, to be pursued and destroyed by cop heroes," says series creator and executive producer David Simon. "We're addressing ourselves to where the 'villains' actually come from, and whether we have any right to regard them as somehow less human than the rest of us."

This season of 'The Wire' is based in large part on the experiences of writer and producer Edward Burns, who taught social studies for seven years in the Baltimore school system after serving 20 years as a city police detective.

"If anything," says Burns, "our depiction of an inner-city school system, it problems and its unwillingness to fully address those problems, is a very generous one."

The first season of The Wire (2002) concentrated on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell. In Seasons Two and Three, as the Barksdale investigation escalated, new storylines involving a longshoremen's union and the city's political leadership were introduced.

Now, the stories of Michael, Namond, DuQuan and Randy take place against the rise of a new narcotics empire in West Baltimore - replacing the fallen Barksdale organization - and the resulting struggle by Baltimore detectives to mount an investigation against this new power.

Returning cast regulars from the first three seasons of 'The Wire' include Dominic West, Sonja Sohn, Lance Reddick, Wendell Pierce, Robert Wisdom, Deirdre Lovejoy, Clarke Peters, Domenick Lombardozzi, Seth Gilliam, Jim True-Frost, Aidan Gillen, Jamie Hector, Chad L. Coleman, Michael K. Williams, John Doman, Frankie R. Faison, Andre Royo, Isiah Witlock, JD Williams, Glynn Turman and Corey Parker-Robinson.

New cast regulars this season include Reg E. Cathey (HBO's "Everyday People") as Norman Wilson, Councilman Carcetti's advisor; Gbenga Akinnagbe as Chris Partlow, a ruthless assassin for drug lord Marlo Stanfield; and, playing the four friends who are classmates at Edward J. Tilghman Middle School, Jermaine Crawford ("A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C.) as Duquan "Dukie" Weems, Maestro Harrell ("Ali") as Randy Wagstaff, Julito McCullum ("Akeelah and the Bee") as Namond Brice and Tristan Wilds (Spike Lee's "Miracle Boys") as Michael Lee.

Among the directors this season are series veterans Dan Attias, Brad Anderson, Joe Chappelle, Ernest Dickerson, Agnieszka Holland, Christine Moore and Alex Zakrzewski. New directors this season include Jim McKay (HBO's "Everyday People"), Seith Mann ("Grey's Anatomy"), David Platt ("Law & Order") and Anthony Hemingway ("CSI: New York").

The writing staff of 'The Wire' includes David Simon, who penned two books of narrative nonfiction, "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," inspiration for the hit series "Homicide: Life on the Street," and "The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood," which inspired the Emmy®-winning HBO miniseries "The Corner"; Ed Burns, a former Baltimore police detective and Baltimore city public school teacher who coauthored "The Corner" with Simon; Eric Overmeyer, a noted playwright ("On the Verge") and veteran TV writer for such dramas as "St. Elsewhere" and "Homicide: Life on the Street"; Bill Zorzi, a former political writer and editor for the Baltimore Sun; and David Mills, who was one of the writers on "The Corner," as well as a writer for "NYPD Blue" and "Homicide: Life on the Street." Also writing for the series this season are novelists Dennis Lehane ("Shutter Island," "Mystic River"), George Pelecanos ("Hard Revolution," "Right as Rain") and Richard Price ("Clockers," "Samaritan"), and playwright Kia Corthron ("Breath, Boom").

'The Wire' was created by David Simon; executive producers, David Simon and Nina Kostroff Noble; co-executive producer, Joe Chappelle; producers, Edward Burns and Karen Thorson; consulting producer, Eric Overmyer.